#paperplant

Antique summer outfit featuring a blue stripes kimono patterned with shirasagi (white heron) flying alongside karasu (crow). It's paired an obi depicting huge yatsude (paperplant) leaves.

“Sagi to karasu” (to call a heron a crow) is a parable meaning bending the reason of something, even though it is clearly incorrect (=insisting that something that is clearly white is black). A synonym is “yuki to sumi” (snow and charcoal).

Japanese Aralia Fatsia japonica (syn. Aralia japonica)

Sleek late summer/early autumn kimono depicting mushikui (worm-eaten) yatsude (paperplant) leaves. This kimono must be very pretty when worn, as the leaves are made from urushiito (lacquered threads) and the ground has discreet gold and silvery threads. Shimmery!

Yatsude nickname is tengu no uchiwa or “tengu’s fan”, as those mighty demons are sometimes depicted using those large and sturdy leaves in place of their usual wide feathered fan (ha uchiwa):